Chapter 25
Two sleepy winter months of nothing much going on passed by in Ba Sing Se. Katara, Azula and Yue maintained a light schedule of Pai Sho practice, just enough to keep Yue in fair shape. With Yue having already done enough to qualify for the finals, her performance in the upcoming Kyoshi Island tournament didn't matter all that much, but even so they had decided against pulling out of the event. Practice was one thing, but it was still important for Yue to remain match fit.
Yue wasn't the only one who had already made sure of her participation in the finals. Piandao and Zuko had made it through as well, and they had decided to give the Kyoshi tournament a pass. Toph had also made it into the finals, but she had nevertheless decided to play the Kyoshi tournament for similar reasons as Yue, just to stay in tournament shape. Two spots in the final six remained unclaimed, but Zhao had his hand firmly on one of them. Only a completely botched Kyoshi tournament could stop him from qualifying.
That left the final spot for Aang and Jeong-Jeong to compete over. After his stellar performance in Agna Qel'a, Aang was considered to be the favorite, and he was narrowly ahead in the rankings. All he needed to do was to finish ahead of Jeong-Jeong, and the last spot in the finals would be his. Theoretically, On Ji could still sneak in ahead of both Aang and Jeong-Jeong, but she pretty much needed to win the tournament while her closest competitors had to fail dismally and finish near the bottom, and that simply wasn't very likely to happen.
With all of this in mind, Katara, Yue and Azula had decided that it made no sense to intensify Yue's practice before the start of the tournament. They could afford a more leisurely approach, keeping themselves fresh in the leadup to the finals. With their Pai Sho activities limited to two or three hours a day, Katara had decided to contact her hospital and make herself available in case they needed her. While Katara loved her role as Yue's coach, by now she was also starting to badly miss her surgeon's calling. Her contacts at the hospital responded immediately. Some of her former colleagues had taken ill and it was an all hands on deck situation at the hospital, which meant that they badly needed Katara's help. Katara had spent the larger part of January and February helping out at the hospital without having to worry that it was negatively impacting Yue's preparations.
Azula had decided against taking on any Pai Sho unrelated endeavors, but even so she always managed to appear incredibly busy. Azula was keeping her finger on the pulse regarding everything that went on in the world of Pai Sho, constantly keeping in touch with her contacts across the world, friends and allies in the Pai Sho federations of all the respective nations. Azula was in touch with the organizing committee of the finals in Yu Dao, trying to learn everything she could about the organizational aspects of the tournament. She'd even taken a three-day trip to Yu Dao to personally inspect the various hotels and choose their place of stay, as well as explore the city and try to learn as much as she could about the place that would serve as the battleground for world Pai Sho championship.
When Azula wasn't wheeling and dealing behind the scenes, she usually busied herself by writing a very detailed practice schedule for the summer months, sometimes even planning their days down to the minutes, which Katara and Yue both found ridiculous and had privately resolved to veto. Still, both Katara and Yue didn't doubt that most of the ideas on Azula's schedule were very beneficial. Azula simply sometimes got carried away and started to micromanage on ridiculous levels, at which point Katara and Yue had to team up and stage an intervention.
Also, while back in Ba Sing Se, Azula had on a lark accepted an invitation for a couple of weekend speed Pai Sho tournaments. Azula had absolutely massacred her opposition in these events, winning every match she played with no exceptions. Katara had a lot of fun imagining the reaction of the other pro players, reading about Azula's speed Pai Sho results and going into absolute fits at the idea that Azula might be returning to professional Pai Sho. Katara didn't think that Azula was seriously considering it, though. Azula felt that she had already proven herself and it was time for new challenges, but still, Azula clearly enjoyed knowing that was feared.
As for Yue, her task was to basically stay relaxed and avoid powerful Pai Sho unrelated distractions, while at the same time, not thinking about Pai Sho too much. This was why it was completely unadvisable for Yue to consider returning to her work at the academy, because it would inevitably become too much of a distraction. Instead, aside from their Pai Sho practice, Yue got very busy in the kitchen, a place that was mostly Katara's domain in their household. It didn't take Yue very long to become a better baker than Katara. It also led to plenty of jokes about Yue's hot buns from both Azula and Katara.
During this quiet time, Yue also made sure to fulfil the obligations she had made to her sponsors, and she also focused on getting some positive publicity. Interestingly, she had once again been approached by one of the more popular men's magazines, offering Yue a massive pile of money for a nude photo shoot. Katara and Azula both had no objections whatsoever to Yue taking the deal, and she had already asked for a contract to be sent over, but then Yue had remembered to mention it to her employer, and Madame Macmu-Ling had strongly indicated that her school would never employ someone who did something as scandalous as posing naked. That reaction had made Yue angry and she had almost decided to go ahead with it anyway, before eventually returning the contract unsigned. It seemed that for now, Yue's buns would not be enjoyed by the public at large.
All of these distractions were to be set aside now, however. Even if they had not forced Yue's preparations extra hard, now that they had arrived on Kyoshi Island, they had only one thing on their minds and that was to have a successful tournament. The island was not extending a warm welcome to them on this occasion, as the weather in the middle of March remained a little chilly. With the forecasted temperatures remaining in-between mid to high 60's, at least the Fire Nation representatives would not get a boost from the weather proving uncomfortably warm for everyone else.
"It's raining again," Yue sighed, standing at the window of their hotel suite and looking outside. Katara walked up to her and for a while they both stared at the overcast bay, not looking quite as picturesque as in the postcards. The usually white sand looked wet and muddy, and the clear blue water had become dull gray, making the beach look rather unappealing.
"It's more of a drizzle," Katara remarked. "We can still go out if you wish. But at the same time, it's not looking pleasant out there."
"I guess, but I just don't think I can do more prep," Yue groaned. "Or watch another episode of Cheers."
"I know," Katara sighed. "What do you want to do, Azula?" she looked over at Azula, still poring over the Pai Sho board.
"Well, first and foremost I want to make sure that Yue really is ready for the opening round," Azula replied curtly. "The schedule could have hardly been more inconvenient. I don't want to go out and have fun unless I'm certain that Yue won't get off to a bad start tomorrow."
"I don't think pushing more prep will help me at this point, Azula," Yue said.
"You've played Zhao four times since he made his comeback," Azula said, sounding very tense. "You've lost all four of your games. I sincerely hope your confidence isn't misplaced."
"Okay, well, one of those losses was because I was pushed down a flight of stairs and couldn't even play, and another was because you'd been shot a few days ago," Yue protested. "I hardly think those games should count!"
"And what about the other two times, what's your excuse for those?" Azula asked. Yue didn't have anything to say to that, other than placing hands on her hips and silently glaring at Azula. "Look, I don't want to push you too hard, but I also don't want Zhao to become this bogeyman for you. Especially when he's most likely going to be there in the finals."
"I'm not afraid of Zhao. And I'm going to prove it to you tomorrow," Yue said stiffly.
"You don't have to prove anything to me. You need to prove something to yourself," Azula shrugged. "I've always known and believed that you can beat Zhao because you're so much better than he is. I just want you to believe that yourself, and I want to see that belief reflecting on the Pai Sho board."
"You'll see it tomorrow, Azula," Yue replied, softening at Azula's explanation. "I promise."
"Good," Azula nodded. "I just wanted to make sure we're all clear on our priorities here."
"We're focused, Azula," Katara said earnestly. "Yue knows how important it is to get off to a good start, especially against Zhao." Azula appeared mollified by their reaction, relaxing a little. "It's crazy the way the schedule just threw so many favorites into head-to-head matches in the first round, isn't it?" Katara asked.
"It really is," Yue nodded. "I heard Aang was going to pay for Toph and Teo's dinner for the rest of the week if Toph beats Jeong-Jeong tomorrow."
"I think Toph will do it," Katara said. "It's good that she for once has Teo with her. She's playing a lot better when he comes along."
"Good for her, but not necessarily good for us. I bet he'll go with her to Yu Dao for the finals," Azula said. "But we'll burn that bridge once we get to it."
"Don't you mean we'll cross that bridge once we get to it?" Yue asked, giggling.
"Hmm?" Azula blinked. "Are you sure?" Katara and Yue both nodded, bursting into giggles. "Okay, I guess we'll cross the bridge first, then we'll burn it behind us." Katara and Yue were laughing openly now. "Anyway, Aang should probably focus on his own play. If he goes for one of his prearranged draws with On Ji, I'm going to call him out as an idiot undeserving of a spot in the finals. I wonder if On Ji is threatening to withhold sex or something unless he agrees on a draw."
"No, I doubt On Ji would do that, I don't think she's the type," Katara said, shaking her head. "Aang is just too much of a nice guy. That's always been his problem, really."
"Well, just remember that he has that world championship title and Yue doesn't," Azula reminded them. "I'm not suggesting that we somehow deliberately work against Aang, but it would certainly help us if he failed to make the cut and Jeong-Jeong squeezed into the finals instead. We wouldn't have to worry about the old man feeding cheap points to Toph and Zuko, while playing Yue hard."
"It would be very disappointing if they went back to some kind of agreement during the finals," Katara said sternly. "Then again, I suppose Toph and Zuko feel like Aang owes them for helping him to his title."
"Alas, I think we should expect some arrangements and trickery," Yue reluctantly agreed.
"Well, I suppose we'll see their plans eventually," Azula shrugged. "Anyway, enough about that. You said you wanted a little break from Pai Sho, so what should we do?" she asked. Katara and Yue exchanged stares, shrugging. "It's always up to me, isn't it?" Azula sighed dramatically. "Well, you know me, my first choice will always be the movie theater."
"Let me guess," Katara sighed. "More horror?"
"Ah, thank you for volunteering, Kat," Azula grinned. "Indeed, there's this curious little movie titled Poltergeist that I've been itching to see. I think it will do nicely as our evening's entertainment."
Katara and Yue exchanged stares yet again. "Oh well," Yue shrugged. "I'm actually a little curious. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Azula might have succeeded in making me almost… enjoy horror?"
"Ugh, why did you have to admit that," Katara groaned, even if she felt the same way as Yue. "Now we're never watching anything else again…"
Despite her promise to Azula about teaching Zhao Sakamoto a harsh lesson, Yue didn't get off to a good start in her game against the detestable former crony of Ozai Nakamura. She'd felt confident all morning, but following the opening ceremony at the local exhibition center, Yue had started to experience some light anxiety. At first Yue thought that she was seeing things, but she could swear that a couple of unassuming looking men in the crowd had also been hanging around the hotel, and had then followed them to the opening ceremony. Even more worryingly, these men seemed to be keeping an eye on her in particular. The idea that Zhao had some of his goons with him on Kyoshi Island set Yue on the edge and made it hard for her to focus.
Fortunately, it seemed as if Zhao Sakamoto wasn't in his sharpest form either, and he failed to take full advantage of Yue's slightly distressed state. Once Yue settled down, she slowly forgot about the suspicious men in the crowd. Having refocused, Yue began to even out the situation on the Pai Sho board. By the time they reached the fortieth move and had an extra hour added to their timing clocks, Yue had almost completely negated all the gains Zhao had made and she could start plotting her own counter play.
Only one other game continued past the mark of forty moves, that between Toph and Jeong-Jeong. Aang and On Ji had agreed for an amicable draw after twelve lazy moves, and for the first time ever, Yue had actually witnessed the appropriate reaction from the spectators. Their boos at the cynical display seemed to embarrass Aang and On Ji a great deal and they departed very quickly, both red in the face. Kori, Siku and Hahn were playing against some of the weaker local masters and scored quick and easy victories.
As Yue and Zhao reached the fiftieth move, it seemed that Zhao would have been happy to settle for a draw as he began to press for tile exchanges to simplify the situation on the board. As Yue watched Toph shake hands with Jeong-Jeong, having delivered a crushing defeat upon the aging grandmaster, she had almost conceded that the position on the board was not winnable. However, Zhao's aggressive pursuit of tile exchanges gave Yue an idea. At first, she made it appear as if she was happy to accept the tile exchanges and steer the game towards a peaceful outcome. However, Yue was now doing so with the intent of luring Zhao into a trap.
Offering her White Lily to be exchanged for Zhao's Chrysanthemum, Yue was preparing to spring a surprise. As expected, Zhao captured her White Lily, but now, instead of taking Zhao's Chrysanthemum off the board, Yue chose to ignore the tile. She immediately focused her forces on the gap in Zhao's lines that had been created by moving the Chrysanthemum. In a quick succession of moves, Yue blew up Zhao's line of defenses, moving in to mop up the now disjointed tiles. It was all over before Zhao had truly realized what was happening, and a few moves later, Zhao had no options but to surrender with a sour look on his face. Yue rose from her seat, beaming, happy that she had managed to fulfil her promise to Azula.
The Kyoshi Island tournament usually didn't draw a great amount of press attention and only some of the specialized Pai Sho publications like The Harmony Ring sent their reporters. There was no designated press zone and if any reporter wanted to catch one of the players for an interview, they had to essentially ambush them whenever they could. With this in mind, Yue had expected her competitors to have already left the building and she was surprised to suddenly bump into Toph, who seemed to have been waiting for her.
"Did you win?" Toph asked without mincing any words.
"I certainly did," Yue nodded, smiling happily.
"Good, and about time, too," Toph said. "Caldera City was such an embarrassment. I know I pushed back against Azula's angry ranting, but she was right. We let our internal squawking and politics hand victory to Zhao. This time we're going to make sure that Zhao doesn't even get a look in."
"Glad to have you onboard, Toph," Yue said, feeling pleased with her friend's change of heart. "I'll be honest, Zhao wasn't at his best today. You'll see it when you and Teo look at the game later. But that was a really nice win against Jeong-Jeong. I really enjoyed that double Boat tile trap at the end, you must be very proud of yourself."
"Thank you," Toph said, looking almost unusually emotional. "Everyone I've spoken with after the game kept telling me about how I've done this big favor for Aang and how happy he must be. You're the first person who actually told me that I should be proud of myself for playing a good game. So, seriously, thank you."
"Hey, what are friends for?" Yue smiled, patting Toph on the shoulder. "We might be in competition, but that doesn't mean we can't encourage each other or appreciate each other's great performances. Still, I hope Aang lives up to his promise to take care of your restaurant bills," she added with a chuckle.
"Well, Twinkletoes usually doesn't break his promises," Toph shrugged. "Even if I'm mad at him right now."
"Because of the draw with On Ji?" Yue guessed.
"Why else?" Toph snorted. "And I know what you're going to say. Hey, Toph, didn't you arrange your matches with Teo when he was still playing?"
"I wasn't going to say it, but since you brought it up-"
"Yes, I brought it up because it's really not the same thing," Toph said. "Teo and I usually did that only when the stakes weren't high and there was no reason to go all out. But the stakes couldn't be any higher for Aang right now. It's like, I'm helping him out by taking care of Jeong-Jeong, but he doesn't even bother to capitalize on that. It's so frustrating."
"I can see how that would be annoying, yes," Yue agreed politely. After all, Toph was making a fair point.
"Also, keep this to yourself, but I think that if On Ji wasn't a selfish bitch, she would have told Aang to give her a real battle," Toph said, keeping her voice low. "But that's just me."
"You don't really like her, do you?" Yue asked, shaking her head. Toph merely scoffed at that question. "Anyway, I think On Ji might still be harboring her own aspirations to make it into the final. In that case, I can see her not wanting to risk taking an expensive loss."
"Well, in that case she's both selfish and delusional," Toph shrugged. "She has no chance of getting in. Trust me, this is between Aang and Jeong-Jeong."
"I think you're right about that," Yue nodded. "But if there's one thing I have learned during my comeback, it's to not take anything for granted…"
Suki knew that she was supposed to be in a good mood. Up until a few minutes ago, she had been in a good mood. She was back on Kyoshi Island, the place of her birth she always enjoyed returning to. Also, Mai had freed her schedule to accompany her for the entirety of their two weeks on the island. And she had just watched all of her closest friends score victories in their matches of the second round. And they had been important wins, too. Toph had crushed Zhao Sakamoto, while Aang had defeated his direct rival for the spot in the world championship finals, Jeong-Jeong. And yet, with so much to be happy for, Suki still found herself struggling with dark thoughts as she stood just outside a heavy iron gate blocking access to a dark and dreary building of grey stone behind it.
"Well, this is grim," Mai summarized aptly, looking at the oppressive building. "Remind me, why are we here again?" she asked, only then noticing the rusted plaque above the gate. "Kyoshi Island Orphanage? Wait-"
"Yep," Suki sighed. "This is where I spent my childhood. Most of it, anyway. In between the various foster homes that didn't work out."
"I had no idea," Mai said, looking about as shocked as Suki had ever seen her girlfriend.
"I don't really like to talk about it, for obvious reasons," Suki shrugged. "See, even us, outspoken people, can have our secrets."
"Very funny," Mai rolled her eyes.
"You're right, it's not funny at all," Suki nodded. "Still, I thought you deserved to know. Seeing as we appear to be having something serious between us."
"We are?" Mai deadpanned. Suki smacked her shoulder in response. "Always so quick to jump to violence. I love it," Mai smirked. "And don't worry, I won't press you for details. Tell me how much you want."
"I appreciate that, but I don't exactly have any dark secrets to hide. The reason why some of those early foster homes didn't work out wasn't because I kept poisoning my foster parents, I promise," Suki said. "I can't even remember all the failed attempts, four or five. Some of those foster parents were abusive. One family decided to uproot themselves and move to the Fire Nation, but they didn't feel like taking me with them. In another family, my foster father was running pyramid schemes and he eventually got nailed for it. His wife was left without any means to support herself and the child protective services took me away again. Somehow, I always ended up back at the orphanage."
"And you never found a stable home?" Mai asked.
"I did, but only when I was thirteen," Suki replied. "Almost fourteen, actually."
"I had no idea your childhood was this depressing," Mai shook her head. "I can't believe it took so long to find a family and get you settled. Did you have a reputation for being difficult?"
"No more so than most kids at the orphanage," Suki shrugged. "It's more that Kyoshi Island has very strict rules about adoption. Foreign nationals are ineligible. Even adoption to the mainland of the Earth Kingdom is frowned upon and made as difficult as legally possible. Local authorities really went out of their way to make sure we stayed in our community. They even opened up adoption to single parents. I know that's illegal in the Fire Nation."
Mai nodded at that. "Did you eventually get adopted by a single parent?" she asked.
"Yes, a man named Oyaji," Suki replied. "He'd lost his wife and daughter in a car accident a few years prior to that. And I know there were some concerns and raised eyebrows, because he was in his early forties and I wasn't the only girl around the age of fourteen he had adopted. There were four of us, actually. But I can tell you right away that nothing untoward ever happened and he provided for us very well. His daughter was fourteen when she lost her life. I think maybe we were just his unhealthy coping mechanism."
"Should you really call it unhealthy if the result was a net positive?" Mai asked curiously.
Suki thought for a while before eventually shrugging. "You know, I have no idea," she admitted. "I'll leave that for smarter people to answer. All I know is that in most other places, Oyaji probably wouldn't be allowed to adopt one girl, much less four. But we were all grateful and better for it. So, I guess, that story does have a happy ending."
"Is it… hard for you to talk about it?" Mai asked. She looked unusually emotional, having heard the story.
"Not hard as such, it's just… I don't know, I don't care for it to be public knowledge? I don't want sympathy," Suki shrugged. "In the end, I was still more fortunate than most kids at the orphanage."
"Your story is safe with me. Even from Ty Lee," Mai chuckled before reaching out and taking Suki's hand. "But thank you for telling me, Suki," she smiled, making Suki feel instantly rewarded for her decision to share these less happy and pleasant experiences of her past.
Katara couldn't help feeling a little nervous as together with Azula they stood in the large foyer of the exhibition hall, waiting for Yue to join them after the conclusion of the matches of the fifth round. They had just watched their wife play an uncharacteristically tense and cautious game, in the end narrowly losing to On Ji. After starting the tournament with three wins, Yue had then played a very nervous draw with Kori Morishita, followed by this setback against On Ji. Katara and Azula were both at a loss as to why Yue was underperforming, but that wasn't even the real reason why Katara was feeling nervous.
Over the past few days, Katara had noticed that a couple of shady looking men appeared to be following them everywhere they went. Katara was becoming convinced that these were thugs hired by Zhao Sakamoto, perhaps to hang around and simply intimidate them with their presence, or even attempt something as bold as trying to push Yue down a flight of stairs yet again. Still, until Katara was certain that she wasn't simply overreacting, she didn't want to bring it up with Yue and risk making her upset and too freaked out to play. For the same reason, she hadn't mentioned her suspicions to Azula, because Katara knew that if she was wrong then Azula would never let her hear the end of it. For now, Katara resolved to wait while keeping a very close eye on Yue at all times.
Still, there were plenty of positive developments during the previous rounds to be excited about. Toph had also defeated Zhao Sakamoto, while Aang had delivered a knockout to Jeong-Jeong in their head-to-head game. Zhao and Jeong-Jeong were now a long way behind in the standings, while Aang, Toph and surprisingly On Ji led the tournament with 4,5 points. Kori was their closest follower on four points, with Yue a mere half a point behind. While Yue was not having her best tournament, everything seemed to be aligning for their friends and Aang was well on his way to securing his spot in the finals.
"What are they talking about for so long?" Azula asked as they were forced to wait until Yue finished speaking with Toph. They could see them both standing by the glass railing of the floor above, having caught up while on their way to the exit.
"Well, I'm just glad to see them talking more and getting along a lot better," Katara said happily. She couldn't see the shady looking men anywhere nearby, but Katara didn't doubt that they were lurking around somewhere. "After Toph was needlessly antagonistic for so long, I had almost given up on things getting back to normal."
"What you're saying is that Toph was basically being a little bitch," Azula snorted. Katara frowned, her first instinct to tell Azula off for being mean, but she quickly realized that she couldn't really object to Azula's crude comment.
"I wouldn't put it in those exact words, so I'll just say that it really is good that Teo is traveling with Toph again, because he seems to mellow her out," Katara smiled. "But yes, he is clearly making her perform better, so that's something we'll have to prepare for."
"It won't be an obstacle," Azula replied confidently as they watched someone familiar walking towards them. Kori Morishita was probably simply heading for the exit, but since Azula and Katara were waiting next to it, she couldn't exactly avoid them, giving them a little wave before stopping by for a brief chat.
"That was a nice game, Kori," Katara quickly complimented her old acquaintance. "Toph is on fire in this tournament, but you really fought for that draw."
"Yes, well done," Azula agreed. "After your game against our girl, I knew you were going to give Toph a hard time. It's good to have you back on the tour. Another woman among the elite is exactly what professional Pai Sho needs."
"Thanks, both of you," Kori smiled. "It's good to be back. It seems like everyone is making a comeback, right? Don't take it the wrong way, though, but I hope you two are not coming back, or else I might just go straight back to retirement."
"I don't think that's in the cards for either me or Azula," Katara laughed.
"I'm not feeling the motivation for a proper comeback, no," Azula shook her head.
"Also, I just noticed something," Katara said, snapping her fingers. "No ring," she pointed at Kori's hand. "I try not to read the tabloids, but-"
"Sure, you don't," Kori grinned. "But yeah, Haru and I are through, officially."
"Is that why Haru is not playing in this tournament?" Azula asked.
"I guess," Kori shrugged. "But if his plan is to just avoid me from now on, then he might as well retire, because I plan to keep playing and often. He needs to stop acting like a hurt little puppy."
"Savage," Katara winced. "So," she gave Kori a teasing little wink. "Anyone new, perhaps?"
"Perhaps," Kori winked back. "I supposedly have someone new every day, if you believe the tabloids," she added with a laugh. "Can you believe that the next day after the divorce was made official, I got an offer from the same adult magazine that did Takeda's shoot? They don't exactly waste time."
Azula and Katara exchanged stares, chuckling. "Yue also got an offer from them," Katara explained. "She turned it down, though."
"Prude," Kori snorted. "I'm definitely taking the offer. Hey, everyone already things I'm a whorey bitch. I might as well profit from it."
"I can only express mad respect for the attitude," Azula said, nodding respectfully at Kori.
"Likewise," Katara nodded. She then noticed that Yue had finished speaking with Toph and was now on their way to join them. "Anyway, we're glad to see you having a great tournament, Kori. I hope it continues, even if we obviously hope that Yue will overtake you."
"Of course, you do," Kori smiled. "Anyway, I'm going to run, but one of these days we should catch up properly. You should look me up when you come to Yu Dao in fall," she added before hurrying away.
"That's an… interesting offer," Azula mused, looking very thoughtful.
"What are you thinking about, Zula?" Katara asked.
"Oh, nothing," Azula said, shaking her head. "Merely that I should speak with Kori again and see if maybe we can work something out for the finals. But let's not get ahead of ourselves now," Azula said quickly just as Yue walked up to them, looking a little frustrated.
"Am I in for a lecture?" Yue asked. "I already know that wasn't good," she said, referring to her loss to On Ji.
"Well, you're off to a good start by acknowledging it," Azula snorted. "Yes, you're probably in for a lecture, but not here. We'll do the verbal spanking behind closed doors."
"Only verbal?" Yue grinned. "How disappointing."
"Verbal to begin with, I think Azula will agree with me," Katara smiled. Azula did seem to be in agreement with that. "Anyway, let's get out of here. We don't have much time to regroup, and we better do it quickly, because facing Aang tomorrow won't be a walk in the park."